


Namesake

by GenuineSoftBoy



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, Rough Sex, consent is pretty explicit at all times but still, fear kink, first few chapters are SFW action adventure, foreplay is hive murder and wrestling, last chapter will be extremely nsfw, porn is chapter seven, tw for knifeplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:01:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GenuineSoftBoy/pseuds/GenuineSoftBoy
Summary: “He was a Hunter after all...it only made sense he lived up to his namesake.”Crota's End and the Hero of the Red War are long time best friends and recently new lovers. They would do anything for one another. So when Draknus whines that he's volunteered for a stealth mission, something he's fallen out of practice with, Soxkt has no problem stepping up to the plate for possibly his own selfish desires...Guardians never half ass anything after all
Relationships: Guardian/Guardian (Destiny)
Kudos: 18





	1. All It Takes is Practice

**Author's Note:**

> Literally just something I wrote for fun with my friend's OC and as an excuse to stretch my legs with action adventure writing. Please note it WILL turn very NSFW but not for a few chapters.  
> (If you read any of my other writing with Soxkt, here's the disclaimer saying this is a "non canon" timeline in which these two fall in love. Also, fun fact, Draknus does not know sign language so Soxkt is actually talking for this fic. Just a fun side effect of the timeline where they date.)

Three. Days.

Three days of Shaxx’s voice following him to sleep and haunting the corners of his strange, feverish dreams. Three days of his fingers aching, curled inward perpetually around an invisible trigger. Three days of associating himself with the void once again, becoming comfortable with the nothingness in his chest when he let his Light reach out and touch the edge of the universe. Three exhausting days of running full force into a brick wall and pulling away sore, tired, and no amount better than he was at the start. 

So now, on day number four, he had made a desperate bid to try something new and an hour into his one-on-one training, he was realizing just how futile this all was in the first place.

Draknus was having a hard week. And his boyfriend’s ability to kick his ass was both commendable and, at this moment, going to have him putting a bullet through the roof of his mouth if he managed to block the next two hits. It wasn’t anybody’s fault but his own. He accepted the Vanguard assignment, he was the one drawn in at the idea of some shiny new (very old) Golden Age materials, and he was the one who had made the mental decision that if he was going to do something this time, he was going to do it right. But nothing had prepared him for just how inadequately he would feel trying to make a point to his own Light.

Soxkt swung with a swirling palm of void energy and Draknus dodged, kicking in his invisibility just long enough to allow him to retaliate with a fist aimed directly at Soxkt’s midsection. But the Warlock was fast and he managed to block, leading to a rapid back and forth of striking and blocking between the two, their Light pushing beneath the surface of every impact just enough to heal away the hurt. There was no armor in the way, no weapons, nothing beyond themselves. Draknus had talked himself into thinking that this would be enough, this raw back and forth show of skill, but it was rapidly becoming clear that not only was his frustration not letting him perform at his best but he wasn’t even enjoying this like he should. 

Soxkt, meanwhile, had been analyzing him all practice. Neither had spoken a word but that had maybe only made things worse. He had readily accepted the invitation to spar but since then had fallen into a heavy silence. The more Soxkt watched him, as though a secondary party to the fight they were having instead of the one in it, the more Draknus felt a nameless frustration well up in him. It made him swing harder than he knew he should. He wanted to ground Soxkt to this fight by any means necessary. He wanted to stop being read. He wanted to pretend there wasn’t anything there worth reading in the first place.

It would be considerably easier to do if he could land anything reliably. But the more he wanted this fight to go on, the more Draknus forgot form and grace and whatever the hell else the Light had uploaded into his brain when it made the decision to pick him up. 

The two broke away from each other, skidding across the packed sand of the arena.

Soxkt’s shoulders rose and fell with heavy breathing as sweat trailed down his forehead. Draknus felt a little better then; at least he was making things difficult if not impactful (literally). Soxkt wiped a hand over his brow and let himself have the distance between them to finally speak up.

“You’re out of sorts.”

Draknus didn’t flinch at the simple assesment. “And you’re losing anyways.”

It’s only said a hair too early to be accurate as Soxkt blinks in a ripple of void and rams the heel of his foot into the flesh of Draknus’s undefended side with resounding force, knocking him hard off his feet and out of the packed sand circle, smacking his temple against one of the stone block pillars that encircled the room. He groaned, orange eyes rolling in his head, and before he could even steady his sight, a mirage of three Soxkts appeared before him in an instance. He winced back instinctively, braced for a final victorious strike, but Soxkt only waited with his arms behind his back until Draknus again only saw one of him and his vision steadied. The Warlock smiled.

“I win.” He flicked Draknus’s nose.

The still slightly disoriented Hunter scrunched his face up in response. “What’s the sign for that?”

Soxkt lifted his right hand, spread wide in front of his chest and swooped it up to his opposite shoulder, making a fist as he did so. It did indeed look like a proud sign. Draknus tried to smile but his jaw popped funny and he groaned again. Soxkt’s smile softened and he stepped back, watching as Draknus’s Ghost appeared to ease the aches and pain of their back and forth.

“Now that that’s done, do you wanna talk?” He asked, turning his back to Draknus as he walked to their small pile of things across the room, rummaging for something in his bag. Draknus appreciated how casually he was pretending to take this. His partner was an overthinker and a half so any effort to give the appearance of seeming relaxed was appreciated. He reached up and rubbed at his jaw, pressing his thumb into the bruise until the pain melted away.

“Yeah, sure. I got a solo job next week, special ops. Fallen moving some Golden Age texts across the Reef. I want it- ah, well, Vanguard want it too, I guess.” He told Soxkt’s back. He one handed caught the towel thrown at him and buried his face in it. “I have to be covert though. Spider is heading the deal and I don’t need to break that alliance. Business is too good.” He muffled into the fabric. 

“I caught maybe half that but I think I get the jist.” Soxkt waited for Draknus to raise his head before tossing a bottle of water over. “This doesn’t seem like typical Draknus anxiety or pre-mission excitement though.”

“Because it’s not. I’ve been training for days but I know once I go out there, I’m not going to be any more skilled in the things I need refining on.” The water bottle was slammed in a matter of seconds then crushed in a tight fist. “Tracking. Assassinations. Stealthiness. Those kinda things. If I’m going to be dependent on the Light and my Ghost’s radar the whole time I go out there, it’s going to slow me down considerably.”

Draknus pouted childishly as Soxkt stifled giggles behind his hand. “Heh, hehehe. Sounds more like you just don’t think it will be fun if you depend on those things.”

“It won’t be!” Draknus exclaimed, arms spread wide before he regained some modicum of maturity. He ran a hand back through his hair in frustration, grimacing as it pulled away sweaty. “You know how you taught yourself to manually take apart and clean your guns? It’s like that. I want to not have crutches when I fight. I want to know if Light fails me, I’ll be ok. Call it the final gasps of honor still in me.”

Draknus slumped back against the pillar. With the lack of adrenaline distracting him, his frustration was seeping in again. “And unless I go tag along with the rest of the Hunters in the city and get myself entrenched in something shady, I don’t have any real ways to train myself with the right amount of stakes. No Crucible match can help me with a slow, plodding chase.”

He focused his gaze away from Soxkt. It was meant well but he could feel the Warlock’s mind turning in on itself as much as his was. The problem with being so alike to one another was the way their anxiety thrived off company.

“Can I see the report?” Soxkt asked carefully.

Draknus wordlessly stretched his arm out. Soxkt threw him his bag and Draknus tore through it, rummaging in elbow deep before pulling out a bound stack of paper, wrapped in twine with edges frayed and browned. Alongside was a data pad he tapped through as Soxkt crept over and began to leaf through the documents, towel over his shoulder.

“What do Fallen want with Golden Age texts?” He muttered, half to himself.

“Dunno. Vanguard thinks they might be looking for old instructions on ship parts, can maybe rebuild some of the scrap they got lying around.”

“Mmm…” Soxkt trailed off into silence as he fell back into his mental pacing, waiting with an extended hand for the datapad to be placed into it which Draknus gratefully gave over. Looking at all of this was making his head spin. He made himself comfortable with his back to the wall, watching his boyfriend’s eyes as they tore through the information laid out in front of him. Eventually, as Soxkt rifled through the papers, he found the copied over intelligence reports for the drop given to him. Draknus shut his eyes and hoped the darkness behind them would quiet his brain for a blissful set of seconds.

Soxkt didn’t look up from the text scrawled across the report, handing the datapad back without looking up. “Let me help you.”

Draknus turned and stared at his profile, blinking. “Huh?”

“You just need someone to try and give you the slip, right? Possibly giving you a rocky trail to follow.” Soxkt quickly shuffled the papers until he found the bounty, quickly reading and then reading again the text printed along it. “Yeah. I can do this with some time to get ready. That should be plenty practice for you if I step in.”

“...Huh?”

Soxkt nodded firmly as though decided on something, pushing the stack of papers back into Draknus’s chest and stretching with a groan over his head. “Almost certain that the clan hall has maps of this section of the Reef. Let me go read up on it tonight, get some things, and tomorrow, you come chase me down. Decent practice, low stakes, no shady characters to get your wrist slapped over if anyone finds out.”

Soxkt grimaced at Draknus’s continued wide eyed expression. “...If you say huh one more time, I’m hitting you.”

Draknus rushed forward, taking Soxkt by the shoulders, letting the bundle of papers and datapad almost crash to the floor if not for two Ghosts and their quick reflexes. “Are you sure you can do something like this? For real? Actually??” His voice rose with each elated question. Soxkt could see in those glowing eyes the fires he was so used to. Draknus was already losing himself in the thrill of an adventurous idea, bad mood forgotten almost entirely. Soxkt couldn’t help but smile back, pressing Draknus back with a hand to his chest.

“Yeah, why not? Send the info to Ventriloquist. I’ll find the most probable path the package will take, run it to its end just as they might, and you can...follow and stop me. If you can, of course.”

Draknus gave Soxkt a cursory once over as though remembering something. “Since when are you some master of sneaking around though? You seem pretty confident you can outpace me.”

Soxkt jutted his chin up. “I think you forget who was skulking around the Reef with you once upon a time.”

“‘Course I remember! It was some moody mute Warlock with the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen.” Draknus’s grin widened as Soxkt struggled to continue to remain serious, straining against the hand on his chest as he tried to continue leaning in towards him. “And a great ass too, I’ll add. Didn’t recognize it at the time but I’m willing to make up for it. Have I mentioned your scars drive me wild while I’m at it?”

“You-you don’t need to sweet talk me, idiot. I already said I’d do it.”

“Maybe it’s some insurance just in case. Maybe I just like flirting with my boyfriend. I’m a complicated man, you know.”

“About as complicated as a blue engram.” Soxkt pushed away and fell into a familiar pace across the packed sand, shoes scuffing as he walked. Draknus shushed down the urge to wrap his arms around the Warlock and upheave the happy affection bursting in his chest. It was dangerous to get between a void wielding neurotic and his thoughts. 

Soxkt began to count on his fingers, voice tightening to a stern lecture that already made Draknus a little tired. “No transmatting anywhere or in any more than necessary. No using your invisibility unless you feel it’s required and it may be at times. Your Ghost is limited to radar only and very base level functions. You travel light and don’t drag around an arsenal with you.”

“This is stuff I already planned on doing, you know.”

Soxkt paused and closed his hand. “Ok, fine then. The only other rules then are-“

Draknus groaned loudly and thunked his head on the wall behind him. “Socks, come on! The system doesn’t have rules, isn’t that the point of us doing this whole thing?” Draknus tilted his head to narrowly dodge the towel whipped at him and caught it before it hit the floor, not moving his gaze.

“Stop whining!” Soxkt snapped. “I offered you this, I get to make the rules. As many as I want too.” He sighed, reaching up to pull free the tie in his hair, letting it drop down the back of his now dry neck. “So...no shooting me. Bullets out of your guns once you think you’ve found me. No using your Light in a way that draws too much attention. If things get rowdy, we can draw in a lot more hostiles than we need to dispatch. And I don’t want to be killed for no good reason either. I’m not like you.”

“I know, I know. Don’t like needless dying. Got it, got it.” Draknus dragged his back down the wall until he was sat on the floor, quietly pondering over the rules laid out before him with glazed eyes. Soxkt almost considered the conversation over and reached for his things to go when Draknus spoke up again, slowly. “...I’m not just tracking you then, going by that second set of rules.” His head rose and he cocked a single eyebrow at the Warlock, frozen in place. “You plan on having me fight you, huh?”

Soxkt furrowed his brow, immediately defensive with Draknus’s tone. “W-what, is that an issue? Just figured you’d want practice on dispatching your target too. Not much of a chase if you don’t stop me.”

Draknus shrugged and with the movement of his shoulders, ferried away the thoughtful look on his face with a casual smirk. “More than fine with me, you know that. Just not used to you being eager for a fight, that’s all.”

“I’m not eager.” Draknus grinned wider at the grumbled voice and raised his hands, palms up in surrender, even if Soxkt was pointedly avoiding looking at him now.

“Ok, ok, fine. In that case, I’m humbled by your gracious offer to have me kick your ass. Or have mine kicked by you if things go poorly.” Draknus brought a hand down to tap his chin, curiosity on his face like a child’s as a thought struck him. “Why not just say no guns period then? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Soxkt busied himself with the water canteen in his hands, stopping his deep drinking at Draknus’s question, rubbing his wrist against his mouth. “I know where this drop is. You’re gonna have a lot of Hive to handle no matter how much we clear things out in advanced. I’m not gonna make you punch your way through the whole Reef to get to me, enticing as that sounds.” Soxkt laughed and for a moment, Draknus almost believed the innocence it carried. 

“Why not say no guns once I find you then?”

The red head ran the sweating metal of the canteen through his hands. He was back to not looking at Draknus. “Just...I-I don’t know. In case you wanted to draw on me or something once you found me.”

“Draw my Better Devils on you, huh? Why would I want to do that?”

“I said you could, not had to. Fine, don’t then, I don’t care. Just stop me however.”

Draknus pushed down the suspicious look he could feel tensing his brow and raised a hand from where he sat, a silent request for assistance. “I think you just want a chance to disarm me all cool if I try something like that.”

Soxkt made his eyebrows dance as he wrenched Draknus up from the floor and back onto his feet. “Maybe so. I’ve gotten quite good at it now.”

“Really? Well! I’m certainly lucky to have such a skilled Guardian offering to give me a hand in such a way. Shall I polish your boots to show my appreciation? I’ll do those Vanguard strikes you hate too.” He bowed low at the waist, still holding the hand that pulled him up, pressing his lips daintily to the soft skin on the back of Soxkt’s hand.

Soxkt jerked his hand free, red faced, smacking Draknus in the forehead. “You are so embarrassing! I should let this vandal beat your head in when you pop up at him on the Reef guns blazing and whatever.”

Draknus’s smile did not falter as he happily gathered his and his boyfriend’s stuff from the corner of the room, ignoring the attempts from Soxkt to hold his own things as he slung both bags over his shoulder, stuffing the papers and datapad inside. “Well let’s get out of here then so you can get ready to show me your amazing, legendary stealthing skills tomorrow. What can’t you do at this point?”

“Sure, sure, fine.” Soxkt was quiet for a moment, dragging his feet behind him, chewing on his thumb nail before bumping Draknus’s bicep with his own. “...I’m the lucky one, for the record. Not you.”

“Mm? How? Pretty sure you just wished for my violent death.”

“I...I’m the one who snagged Crota’s End somehow. Not just as a friend but, I mean, you know, with everything...” Soxkt trailed off. Draknus could see his hands fumbling as he reverted to old habits, signing along with words Draknus couldn’t read. He reached over and pushed his own palm over the stuttering fingers, holding them gently. 

“You know I hate when you call me that, Hero of the Tower. And who’s being embarrassing now?“

Soxkt stared at Draknus’s fingers tangled in his own as though still not used to the gentle touches they had begun to share, the physical routine they were entrenching themselves in every day. “I don’t know why you hate that title. You earned it. And whether you like it or not, you’re still my hero. Just let me call you it when I’m feeling sentimental and don’t whine.”

Draknus suddenly was finding it very hard to look at his partner, eyes roaming to rest anywhere else with an awkward laugh. “Not sure how you can say that kinda stuff with a straight face.”

“Because I’m stupidly in love with you to the point of unironic affection.” Soxkt twisted their hands until he could pull the knuckles of Draknus’s hands to his mouth, pressing his lips to them softly. “You make me starstruck, Draknus. You just have to deal with me being your biggest fan forever.”

Draknus pulled his hands free, running them down his face in mock anguish. “Aughhh, you can’t just hit me with that kind of stuff out of nowhere! That’s not fair!”

“Suck it up. Besides, I thought I was too mean to you typically.”

“Nah, trust me. I need your attitude. I get nice enough from the rest of the Tower. Besides...you’re a horrible liar. I know you’re never half as serious as you look.”

“I’m a fantastic liar.” Soxkt said it so intensely and with such conviction, Draknus couldn’t resist the burst of laughter he meant to keep down.

“Guess I’m just even more special then! I can read you and you know it. Which is why you aren’t telling me why you’re so keen to help me out.”

Draknus eagerly watched the face of his boyfriend for a slip of emotion but Soxkt simply outpaced him and turned to throw him a smile over his shoulder, pressing a single finger to his lips. “Hm. If there’s anything to find, I’m sure you won’t let me down, Draknus.” The flush on his face from their previous duel was returning but now from a new source. “You never do.”

Despite being inches from the door, the two didn’t step out for a good few minutes after that. And when they nearly slammed into Shaxx on their way out, they were red faced and hunched over, hiding grins behind their hands like children, young and in love in the simplest of ways.


	2. The Starting Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a taste of anticipation and something more on the air. Draknus readies himself for the chase through the Reef, taunted by the voice of an angel

Draknus surveyed the bounty of the Tangled Shore atop a small mound of Hive knight carcasses. Per given earlier instruction, he had cleared out the surrounding half mile or so of enemies. It hadn’t been explicitly asked but he tried to do so as quietly as he could, slowly picking his way through each party that came through. It was both a preliminary test of what was to come and a small dose of caution put in towards the possibility of Spider hearing he was around. He didn’t need any eyes on him during this. That was kind of the whole point.

“Are you really here?” He asked into the comm fit snug against his ear inside the helmet. Even with all circumstances outstanding, Draknus was left a bit warm in the face by the voice that lit up in his ear. 

“Yes, of course. What lesson would you learn if I wasn’t?” Soxkt said in a soft tone even though Draknus knew he had to be tucked far away enough for his voice to not travel.

“I don’t know. I can only imagine. Maybe something about trust or subverting expectations or some other hunk of pseudo philosophy bullshit you Warlocks love so much.” He lazily spun his Better Devils. “You done yet?”

“Give me a moment.” The line clicked dead.

Soxkt had peeled out of the clan hall to the hangar early this morning, obviously trying to skirt his Hunter boyfriend but ultimately failing when he found Draknus already at his ship, waiting for him with hot tea and an energy that didn’t come from his empty coffee cup. Soxkt admitted between careful sips he was going to test a few trails the thief might take, nudging his bag that rustled with the sound of bound leather maps. He also said he was going to clear out any major Hive camps to thin the hoard a little, allow the focus to remain on the hunt and not in warding off legions of Hive.

Draknus seemed happy with the answers until he playfully reached for Soxkt’s bag and had it furiously tugged away from him with nervous eyes. There was, quite obviously, something else. The Warlock had a plan.

“I can’t believe you’re gonna just not tell me! Why don’t you love me, Socks? I thought what we had was special.” Draknus made another futile grasp for information that went straight to Soxkt’s ego, who was becoming smugger with every attempt.

“You know, your target won’t openly broadcast what they have in store for you. You’re lucky I’m giving you any idea of what I’m up to but I’m not giving you anything more.” Soxkt had teased, pulling his gauntlets on tight, hip leaned against the smooth side of his ship. 

Draknus scooted his way into Soxkt’s personal space. The Warlock’s mouth quivered and he quickly dashed his gaze around the area. “No matter how hard you flirt with me, I’m not telling.”

Draknus casually boxed Soxkt against his ship with an arm lazily leaned by his head. “I just gotta ask then: are you Soxkt or... ‘my target’ once you leave this hangar?”

“Primarily the latter, partially the former when called for, I suppose.” Soxkt narrowed his eyes. “What kind of question is that?”

“I just want to know how hard you’re gonna be on me... and how hard I can be on you in return.”

Soxkt squinted at him, golden eyes turning to slits as he took in Draknus, searching for the ulterior motive. Finally, he reached out and brushed a stray purple hair from his forehead, tracing his fingertips gently down his cheek as he pulled away. “Idiot. You should know better.” He muttered. He was right; Draknus should know better...and he did. He just needed that extra layer of confirmation for today’s activities. With that secured, his smile was bright and the goodbye kiss he placed against Soxkt’s mouth chaste.

Now Draknus waited in the cool air, already used to the smell of Hive rot and ozone, armored exactly as he would be when he took his mission for real. He knew patience was important. He knows it’ll be vital come the actual time to act. But for now, he gets to abuse the lower-than-average stakes given to him.

He turned the line back on. “You know, you’re going through a lot for this. I can tell how hard you’re working. I...I appreciate it. Really.”

“Of course. No thanks needed.” Soxkt’s voice was so kind and Draknus smiled, briefly contented until he remembered the lingering taste of something else on the air.

“A man does have to wonder what you’re getting out of this yourself though.”

“Does he have to wonder?” Draknus waited patiently for the answer he knew would come anyways “...I know with practice, this mission will be fruitful and nonlethal for you. I don’t want to deny you this hunt and I’d like you to come back in one piece.”

“I know you know it’s not that dangerous.”

“I still would like you to get good at this.”

“‘Cause you just love me so, so very much?”

There’s a brief pause and when Soxkt speaks next, his voice strains with his attempt to sound casual. “This Warlock likes the hunt as much as you Hunters do, if you really must know.”

“Really?” Draknus paused. He was eager to dig into that little comment but he restrained himself. He liked this game and if Soxkt knew he was playing it too, he might stop. “Ok, if you insist. Are you ready then?” He asked instead. His enthusiasm clouded his nerves and pushed away any further questions from his mind. He hopped down from his perch, stretching high above him. 

“I am ready.” There is a small rustle and then the click of a sidearm being loaded on the other end of the line. Draknus could see the Lonesome Soxkt used comfortably fit into the palm of the Warlock in his mind with such clarity, he almost felt he could reach through the miles between them and snatch it. But Draknus’s hand instead just closed over the empty air in front of him as Soxkt ended the call with a single taunt. 

“Come find me, Crota’s End...if you can.”

The start was the simplest. Spinning the gun into its holster, Draknus summoned his sparrow in an instance, mounting it just as his HUD sprung to life from within. His eyes sharply narrowed as the engine kicked to life, roaring and then softly growling as it launched him across the space of the Reef. The cosmos were blessedly quiet aside from the hum beneath him as he pressed himself forward, near flat against the sparrow. He winded his way through the pillaring rock structures and destroyed camps, keeping an eye out both on his radar and on the speeding rock whizzing underneath.

It didn’t take as long as he worried. The tracks lit up in his HUD, the helmet tuned to pick up the traces of footfalls in the surrounding area. The boot shaped imprints were scarce but as he rounded a corner underneath a partially blown off archway, his eyes widened. The area was violently ravaged, torn apart camps strewn about, remnants of Hive and Fallen both laid to waste. It was almost hard to appreciate the destruction however thanks to his visor lighting up like a Dawning tree as footsteps coated the landscape. Draknus gave a short chuckle and switched his HUD off as he conceded his eye’s inability to handle the amount of stimulus it filled his visor with. Well played.

Slowing his sparrow to a crawl, he carefully maneuvered around the wreckage. He could still see the burning singe of void flame licking at canvas and skiffs. He stuck out a hand and let the flame lick at his fingers. Still hot, as was the metal underneath. Draknus trailed the destruction with his eyes, sitting up straight to look out at the deep horizon. Soxkt was methodical. He liked a path. Meaning if this was still hot…

Draknus kicked the sparrow to life and began to curve counterclockwise around the space, following the wreckage. Eventually the terrain sloped up the further he went, the remains of wreckage thinning but the footsteps unwavering, unstopping, and no longer a flurry of motion. They were now in a neat and orderly line. Even the spaces between each print suggested he had walked at this point. Draknus grinned. What a tease. He slammed on the brake of his sparrow as he looked up, the footsteps leading him to the first surprise of the night. When a check of his Ghost answered nothing, he had no choice but to dismount.

He hopped off his sparrow and tilted his head up high, tapping his foot. He flicked his wrist out and checked his Ghost again. The radar wasn’t wrong and he watched the faint illumination of his HUD color the remnants of tracks from inside his helmet. There was no mistaking that the trail led directly inside the network of Hive brood tunnels he had cut through many times before on work for Spider. The difference being primarily in the eerie quiet now within them. 

“This must be what he came here early to clean out.” He thought on the mental link to his Ghost. “Hope he got paid at least doing as much as he did. The Reef is gonna be nice and squeaky clean for once.”

“Getting paid would mean alerting Spider.” The Ghost reminded him and Draknus frowned.

“I’ll have to make this worthwhile myself then. That floaty dolt tries too hard.”

His sparrow dissipated in a shimmer of the atmosphere and after straightening his shoulders and pulling his helmet off to quickly fix his hair, Draknus walked inside the waiting mouth for the hell beneath.


	3. A Word's Meaning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draknus realizes just how seriously Soxkt is taking this little romp and faces his first real challenge

It was a painful and slow crawl through the mines, skittering across where entrances opened into scavenged shipwrecks before snaking deeper into the tunnels behind the backs of roaming Knights that stood heads above him. Draknus kept himself coiled tight like a spring, moving in short bursts, counting the steps to take beforehand to perfectly measure his distance between points. His eyes strained to follow the footsteps dappled around him, the red glow of his radar bleeding into his vision even when he tried to blink it away. There was no time to count patrols and time out the Elites storming through, acolytes in tow. He could smell the bloodlust on the Hive. They would only grow more restless as time went on without a target for their ire.

Soxkt would pay for this.

What Draknus had failed to piece together walking in was that the Hive were not so keen on allowing their forces to be mindlessly culled again and again. Granted, that much was obvious but the sheer quantity Soxkt was willing to put down went over his head. 

Judging by the numbers of Hive commanders that were patrolling, his Warlock had killed enough to rattle the hierarchy of the local militia and they were a little upset. A trek through the mines swarming with acolytes would have been one issue. But now long stretches of space with little place to hide, little noise to lose himself in, also came with the consequence of his getting caught coming at a much, much higher price. 

Still, Draknus managed to work his way inside with careful planning. He felt a twinge of annoyance every time he was forced to hit his own invisibility but he didn’t have time to linger on his pride. Eventually, the mine tunnel he found himself snaking through began to clear, his radar dimming the further he went inside. The air began to cool the deeper he went and his hunched steps slowly began to speed up and firm again. The footsteps of Soxkt were easy to track in this linear pathway. So simple to follow in fact he almost rounded a corner without checking the glaring red light that sprung to life as he got closer. 

Quickly dropping to a knee, Draknus triggered his invisibility and peeked slowly around the corner. An Elite Witch stood in the way, floating inches above the ground, slowly coalescing a dark smoke around her, muttering incantations between pointed teeth. Draknus could see where the glowing remnants of footsteps went directly underneath the Witch, through the smoke and into the mouth behind her. His eyes flickered to the walls. A second hallway connected to this one. Her reinforcements couldn’t be far behind. 

Swearing gently, he slowly crawled along the perimeter of the room, barely lifting his feet along the dirt as he crept counter clockwise to the twisting of the Witch. Keeping himself low to the floor wasn’t going to help him in striking however. Draknus waited until he was near directly behind her hunched form and instead of standing, he began to climb himself backwards up the slopped tunnel wall. He held his breath, praying the earth didn’t give or crack beneath his waist. Once his hands stopped slipping on the incline, he held himself still. The Witch had yet to raise her head. Slowly, carefully, the Hunter drew from his side and began to narrow his focus.

The knife in his hand began to hum gently, growing and infusing with the nothingness of his Light, a sound near impossible to hear as it flowed through him. But the Hive’s predilection to Light and Dark made them more sensitive than others to the sound of the paracausal bending fabric of the universe. Moreso, the Void had an energy of its own that called to the fear that lived in others, even out of eyesight and out of mind. The Witch began to turn but before she could spot her target, magic pulsing in her clawed fingers, Draknus lunged off the wall he was braced against, clinging to the skeletal back and armored robes of the Elite.

As the Witch’s mouth opened in an incredible shriek of fury, Draknus raked the void blade across it’s throat, using the momentum of kicking off it’s back to decapitate the Witch entirely. It was a strange feeling; the void of the blade sawed through matter as though it weren’t even there, a clean draw even through the chitin and bone. The shriek died early in the air, the physical form falling to dust, but the remnants of arc energy continued to flurry around, sparking as it impacted the tunnel walls. Draknus bounded from spot to spot, narrowly dodging the bursts of crackling white energy with precision. His feet raked across the floor as he narrowly dodged the final blow that just barely singed his shoulders as it streaked past. He waited for the noxious gas of its final death throes to subside before raising himself to standing. His radar was clean. He pumped his fist in brief victory before becoming distracted again.

A small red flash was pulsing out of the corner of his eye. Draknus floundered for a moment before realizing; the comm in his ear was blinking. Draknus cocked his hip against the newly vacated tunnel entrance and switched it on.

“You’re loud.”

“Honey, I’m hoooooome.” Draknus sang down the length of the tunnel, resisting the urge to belt it out as loud as he wanted. He could still hear the faint skritching of claws in the walls and far off in the distance, even though his radar was currently a blank slate.

“Very funny. You must be faring well so far if you can joke like that.”

“And you must be awfully bored to call me up. Guess I’m not going fast enough.” Draknus turned and braced his knees as he inched his way down the tunnel’s incline. “You know, I really doubt that this Fallen vandal will be calling me up to check on me when I’m a bit noisy. Noisy, by the way, because you forced me to have to go toe to toe with an elite tier Witch in these forsaken mines. So thanks for that.”

“You thought I cleared out enemies beforehand for your own benefit? That’s precious.”

“You are having far too much fun making things hard for me.”

“Does that make you angry?”

“Hmm.” Draknus skillfully slid the rest of the tunnel’s length, sending up small plumes of dust behind his heels until he skipped off the slope and continued his trek, ducking under a paper thin sheet of decay that hung from the tunnel’s exit. Tiny blips of footstep traces kept him on the straight and narrow. “Am I supposed to be angry right now?”

“I suppose whatever motivates you will work.”

“I thought those Golden Age texts in your bag were my big motivator, mister director.”

Soxkt didn’t have a quip ready for that one. There was a good few seconds of quiet before the next reply came, terse. “...You can have multiple motivations.”

Draknus cocked his head as he listened. Soxkt’s breathing had gone...shaky. Not much but enough to be noticeable and moreso the longer they spoke. “Hope you didn’t go too far down and put yourself in a tiny hole with no oxygen. I know you want to win but don’t die for it.”

Soxkt quickly seized his breath, steeling himself on the other line. “I’m not stupid. To most accurately follow the path you will be hunting later on, I have to head somewhere with an exit. Your vandal won’t be burying himself in the dirt and waiting after all. He is trying to escape you and this hunt.”

That was what Draknus kept picking up on. He snapped, eyes bright with realization. “You keep calling this a hunt. I don’t know if that’s the word you mean to say.” Silence. No rebuttal. Interesting. “Soxkt, am I hunting you...?”

The silence was even longer this time but when Soxkt spoke, his voice had righted itself and came out just as deep and casual as ever. “...I don’t know. Are you?”

The line shut before Draknus could even conceive of an answer.


	4. Distracted Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draknus fully understands the shape of the game he is playing now and deals with his problems with no enthusiasm for what lies beyond

Even with no one to answer to, Draknus took his time thinking through the vague question as he continued to divide the majority of his brainpower to scouring the ground for signs of tracks and his radar. In the context of what this was meant to be training for, the answer was simple. He did not see his Vanguard assignment as hunting, even with all signs pointed in the direction of it being one. It was simply reclaiming things that didn’t belong to the Fallen. It was a chase, maybe, and it deployed a lot of hunting skills but there was something else in that word specifically that gave him pause. Something...primal. Something that indicated acting outside of a logical sense and relying on instinct and animalistic urge. His brow creased as he thought.

A hunt was violent. A hunt did not stop at the cornering of the prey. It was more...final than that. The Vanguard assignment certainly wouldn’t be that. He had no desire to throw this vandal in chains anywhere or, Traveler forbid, kill him. Therefore, this practice wasn’t a hunt either.

...Unless Soxkt wanted it to be.

Draknus shook his head quickly. Those thoughts needed to be placed into a corner of his brain with the lights off. There was no time to dwell on that kind of thinking even if it was fun to fool around with or ruminate if they were accurate. Wait. Were they accurate? Did Soxkt want this to be a hunt actually? A lot of things would be suddenly falling into place if it was true. Is this what Soxkt was getting out of his efforts? Did he want things to go somewhere dark on purpose? Was all this provoking and flirty banter and preparation and teasing all so that Draknus would- oh. Well, yeah, probably. When he thought about it so plainly, it seemed….obvious.

The Hunter softly whined to himself. His attention funneled entirely, for a brief moment, into how much of an idiot he was. The ceiling was a good reminder he needed to pay attention to his surroundings before he made himself look like a bigger one.

With a thunk, his helmet smacked into the tunnel ceiling, a rude awakening to Draknus’s overthinking. The Hunter bit his lip to resist his groan of pain and refocused on the tunnel length he had been walking. The footsteps were consistent in heading in the direction he was going but the tunnel was becoming rapidly more narrow. A quick glance at the radar confirmed the continued clarity and with a small hunch, he pushed forward until he was gifted with a single mouth, glowing with the familiar sheen of footsteps in his HUD.

Draknus shuffled forward, keeping his back bent to avoid ramming his head again. As he peered down the mouth, his Ghost appeared above his shoulder.

“I need you to start scanning the other walls for a possible second entrance.” He asked through their mental link, leaning forward more, almost tipping head first down the slope.

“I’m not following. Why do you need to make extra work for yourself?”

Draknus waited for his Ghost to finish questioning him before he tossed a small rock down the tunnel mouth, listening carefully. It plinked down dully, eventually tumbling out of view and falling silent.

“See? No echo. It’s closed up on the other end. Better find another way in.” He thought, tapping his helmet, feeling a twinge of pride before looking around with hands on his hips. 

“You’re going to have to force your way through a path anyways. Why not just do it through this one that’s already been mostly cleared out?” The Ghost asked, floating over to scan the open tunnel mouth before dragging it’s scan across the entire wall surrounding it.

“Because Soxkt closed it up. In case you haven’t been paying attention, he isn’t half-assing this. I have a better chance roughing it up with the Hive’s bullshit then dealing with whatever he has in store for me.”

“Then…” The Ghost stopped, floating in front of a chunk of wall. “Here. The wall here is thin and there’s a closed off tunnel right behind it. I think this is where Hive broods are birthed from. It’ll be a tight squeeze but they funnel down the same direction as that one over there.” The Ghost’s shell fluttered as Draknus patted it affectionately.

“Good call, Little Light.” He smiled as he felt the Ghost tighten up so sharply at the name, it trembled under his palm. “Then what are we waiting for?” Draknus drew the knife from his holster and with the handle began to hack at the wall until he found what lay underneath.

It was a tight squeeze but nothing so small some constricting and careful sliding couldn’t fix it. Draknus crawled on his back carefully, face turned up to stare at the empty nests lining above him. His radar was a mess. He could hear the distant thunder of Hive footfalls above him somewhere and his radar’s reach was too wide. He paused occasionally but his presence remained concealed. He kept the link with his Ghost open for long as he could without drawing it out beside him. It was hard to judge direction in the tunnel and he did not need to get himself lost, not when his gut told him he was edging nearer and nearer with each obstacle placed in his path.

“Close?”

“Again, I can only tell so much but the compass hasn’t moved too off course.” His Ghost made a noise like a shudder. “I think I’m claustrophobic.”

“I’ll get us out of here fast then. Should be a straight shot through here. Soxkt couldn’t have possibly engineered anymore traps from in here. That little bastard. Doing all this, making me work this hard just so he can get at my di-“

“DRAKNUS.”

The Hunter refocused his gaze above him at the sharp tone.

A sleeping Thrall, cocooned in a shedding placenta, was inches above him and stirring from its unholy slumber.

Draknus froze but he knew no amount of stillness would stop the Thrall from seeing him once those lifeless eyes tore open. Quickly, he drew and slid his hand cannon far down the tunnel in front of him, kicking it away. The last thing he needed was to accidentally set that off and possibly bring the rest of it’s brethren on him. He went for his knife but his movements had gone shaky in the face of this predicament. His elbow throbbed in pain as he accidentally slammed it into the tunnel wall, skidding the dagger away from him and awakening his new friend, who’s dark gaze formed a knot in the Hunter’s stomach.

The Thrall opened its mouth to shriek but Draknus gripped it’s throat in a vice hold before it could erupt to life. Still, that only solved one problem. The Thrall tore through it’s confines and descended the few inches on top of Draknus, wildly, gaping maw first. Draknus felt his eyes roll a little as the Thrall rammed it’s skull into Draknus’s helmet front hard enough to rattle his gritted teeth. Using the force of his grip on it’s throat, he quickly began to maneuver to keep it at arm’s length in the cramped tunnel.

The Thrall wasn’t going to let itself remain silent for long. Despite the thinness of it’s skin, the Hive possessed powerful bones and muscle tissue. The hand around it’s throat was already violently jumping beneath Draknus’s grip, not to mention the nails that ripped into his arm with fiery scratch lines. Draknus hissed in pain as a clawed foot stuck in his torso, digging in and threatening to rip through the muscled flesh beneath. It was a writhing mess of dangerous limbs and it was only by sheer weight difference   
Draknus was able to roll himself over the Thrall, forced to press close and smell it’s rotting ozone flesh. Even driving his shoulder into it’s sternum did little to still the chaotic scrambling.

It seemed fitting that only now Draknus’s mind would choose to wander towards the kind of things he slept through in clan meetings. Many important respectable people around the Vanguard nowadays had begun to tout a specific belief that Draknus and his clanmates backed full heartedly; Guardians were as much people as the Ghostless, the Lightless. The Light didn’t make them any less people than those without. It seemed an obvious statement on paper but Draknus witnessed first hand the pedestals Guardians were placed upon by others and the damage such lofty placements did. A divide between the people of Earth was a natural cause with the Traveler’s presence but it didn’t mean it should be allowed to continue to grow between them.

And yet, sometimes Draknus just knew in the back of his mind that he was capable of doing things no one without the Light would do. Not just physically such as his manifestations of Light but mentally as well. Like right now, as he ignored every panicking locked up cell in his body to shove his arm down the throat of a writhing Thrall up to his elbow and pulsed void energy white hot into his fist that squeezed shut so hard, he was almost certain he’d tear apart the fabric of his gloves at the knuckles. With a sickening fizzle and pop, the Thrall’s shriek was silenced as it dissolved, imploding from the inside out in a boiling mess of cells and skin, disintegrating into nothing as the rupture ripped through its skeletal body. Draknus stifled the pop with his body, slamming himself against the Thrall’s carcass, wincing as the leftover Void singe licked at his armor. It shuddered beneath him before going limp and as he remained still. Eventually, he was lying over nothing. 

Draknus kept still in a tight ball, only cognisant of his own shallow breathing, until he was certain nothing was coming for him any longer. He peeked at his radar with a cracked open eye; empty. Checked the comm line; still shut, no blinking. With a heavy sigh of relief, he unfurled his body and slowly continued his crawl through the tight space, walking himself on his hands as his feet continued to kick their way forward in front of him. The ceiling of the tunnel was under much harsher scrutiny as he inched along but no more nesting Thrall waited for him, only empty nests already starting to dry.

He stopped as he was forced to raise his knee best he could and furiously kick down, breaking away the fossilized remains of the long dead. Eventually, with a satisfying crack, the dead earth gave way and revealed a decently sized entrance into the main tunnels again. Another radar glance told him it was empty too. Draknus squirreled his way out, dropping to the floor. He checked behind him and was greeted with the sight of a walled over entrance. It wasn’t the cleanest but when he stepped closer, he could see something jammed tightly into the cracks of the rocks that made up the blockage. He almost reached out to examine it but pulled back quickly. It wasn’t worth checking. What mattered was he was right; Soxkt had taken work to cover his tracks and his Thrall encounter was a necessary risk. The Hunter shook out his newly torn apart cape, reaffixed the gauntlet that had been shoved into the Thrall’s maw, and dusted off his hand cannon and blade. After scrubbing a bit of grime off the muzzle, he spun it into its holster and turned on his heel, strutting forward.

And stepped directly onto a half buried mine that clicked gently underneath his boot.


	5. The Final Straw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soxkt's last ditch effort to get Draknus off his trail only pours gasoline on the fire he's created

The concussive blast was minuscule in the harm it did to Draknus directly; if anything, the blow to his ego as he fell directly onto his ass was much more painful. But the surrounding structure was not as strong as him, still soft and loose from the recently brooded Thralls that had dug their way out. Chunks of the tunnel crumbled and with wet popping sounds, embryonic sacs of Hive fluid popped along the walls and with it came the heavy gasses of rot and sulfur. Draknus scrambled back fast as he might, dodging the tumbles of debris that crashed from above him. For a moment, he feared a full tunnel collapse but the walls were too sturdy. The exit was only partially blocked now and still manageable. Craning his neck, Draknus saw further ahead that his trail was not compromised. Then the smell hit him.

Retching, Draknus placed his hands on his knees and almost instinctively reached up to pull his helmet free as he hacked. It was only by his Ghost’s cry of “No, stop!” that he recalled the far worse consequences of inhaling this plume of death directly. So, instead, he fumbled against his helmet, slapping his toggle and switching the line to open.

“What the fuck, Soxkt?!” He rasped into the comms, “Where the hell did you even get something like that!?” He interrupted himself as he coughed up a plume of grey-orange dust, his holey cloak bundled around his visor. The noxious Hive fumes permeated the air and hung thickly around him. It wouldn’t kill him (it shouldn’t anyways with his respirator) but the toxins were already affixing a heavy fog over his mind and in the constricting tunnel, there was little place for it to ventilate through. 

“The Drifter.” Soxkt didn’t even ask for context as he responded to the opened comm line. Draknus tensed at the cockiness in his voice. “Got them for very cheap.” He continued casually. “He almost paid me to take them off his hands.”

Draknus shuffled further against the wall of the tunnel, using his elbow to crack at a layer of dry rot away with a few repeated jabs. He felt it eventually crumble away and groped blindly into the space behind him. He shoved himself backwards into the small enclave once he met no resistance, immediately trying to gasp in a few clear breaths of air once scrunched up tight into the space. 

“That greasy bastard has a hard on for you.” He hacked out between fervent breaths. The air hung so thick with rot outside his hidey hole, he could see it sluggishly move past like a death colored cloud. This was an impressive plan, sure, but frustration pulsed under his skin like live wires. Even by making this tiny sanctuary for himself, he was losing time. He could feel it slipping past. He had to find a way to ventilate the tunnel quickly.

“Don’t say things like that. I think he just liked the idea of me fucking with you.” Soxkt was rarely quite so arrogant sounding and it made Draknus grind his molars. He wasn’t even truly mad; if anything, he was delighted with the surprise and proud of Soxkt for engineering such a trap. And yet his hands twitched with violent intent. Nothing could ever be easy for him, could it?

Draknus didn’t bother switching off the comm lines as he rapidly began to file through his options. He considered blowing holes in the ceiling but the sound would more likely than not draw more hostiles his way. He could bullrush his way through but if there was one mine, there would be more, and he would need his wits stable to navigate them. He could wait out the cloud but...come on now. He might as well lie belly up and proclaim defeat.

So if he couldn’t figure this out smartly, he’d at least make damn sure to finish this quickly. He grimaced. His priorities were starting to become hazy thanks to that smirk on the other end of his comm line.

Screw it.

Draknus took a large breath, held it tight, and with cheeks puffed up large, he shot from his tiny safe space back into the gas chamber he found himself in. Feasibly, he could hold his breath forever but he didn’t want to put his Ghost in danger trying to spin him back to life (at least too many times). The window was barely cracked open as is and he had to move to get under it. Whipping out his hand cannon, he aimed carefully along the ceiling before pulling the trigger, cracking a single sizable dent above him. Immediately, he watched his radar spring to life and ground back the panicked rush he felt. No time for that.

With a pin point tossed grenade at the exit he had walked out of moments ago, the spidering particles of explosives detonated along the tunnel way and immediately collapsed the rock in a rush of crumbling dirt and stone. The space filled fast and by the time the noise of rushing earth stopped, his exit and the Hive’s only entrance to him was blocked off. He winced back, shielding himself from some of the flying flecks that pelted his armor. When he lowered his arms, he was given the gift of his vision slowly clearing. He released his breath and coughed again. Still hurt but...much less. Much, much less. He slouched against the wall in relief.

“Glad to hear you’re not unconscious. The Drifter did assure me these wouldn’t kill you or hurt you too bad but I can’t control Hive biologics or their forces.” He realized the sound that had been playing in his head the whole time was Soxkt pacing, waiting with a quip to pipe back up again. “Still, he might be let down to know you weren’t at least a little scuffed up by them.”

Draknus grunted, watching the gas filter out around him. “Well, you can just tell him later then.”

The scuffing on the other end stopped. “...Tell him what?

Draknus inhaled hard and felt the dry heat encase his throat. The gas burned in his vocal chords just as he hoped and when he spoke next, his voice came out just as raw and feral as he hoped it would.

“Tell him how much his little toys didn’t stop me from finding you and putting a fucking knife between your ribs.”

There’s a sharp inhale and then the comms are shut, the line dead noise in his ear. Behind the faceless visor, Draknus grinned in victory before clearing his throat best he could. It was worth it. To the empty air, he softly sang “I got you~” before plowing on ahead, worming his way through the wreckage. 

“Ghost, can you start gathering these for me?” He called to his Ghost, one handedly tossing a blade at a second mine immediately ahead of him and popping it before it’s concussive blast could detonate. “I have a feeling this means we’re on the right track. Oh, and transmat down one of Petra’s little gifts from my ship. I think we can make good use of that finally.” He had fallen for this trick once, he would give Soxkt that, but not again. No more delays. He could say, finally, he was properly motivated to get to the end. 

He was a Hunter after all...it only made sense he lived up to his namesake.


	6. Heavy Petting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last, Draknus has found his prey and sets off a chain reaction to lead to their dangerous foreplay

Despite the initial rush and his new found passion for finding the finish line, Draknus forced himself to move carefully, combing over every possible tunnel, watching his Ghost string along mine after mine as they traversed. It was clear this was Soxkt’s final ploy as no other obstacles obstructed him during his walk. The tunnels, however, did become much more varied and winding and required more brain power than he thought possible for him to have in his new haze. Thankfully, his luck paid off and it only took a third attempt down a series of tunnels until his HUD lit up bright with footsteps. Draknus dropped to his belly, crawling forward until he saw light at the end of the tunnel.

Peering over the edge, he saw an abandoned Hive structure where multiple tunnels opened up to, ringing the large space, the holes high up on the sloped walls. He had to be fifty feet high at minimum. Below, broken Hive architecture surrounded steps that climbed up to an altar, the dark stone carved intricately and roughly on every stretch of rock that could be reached. It was a shrine, long abandoned, probably left behind whenever this portion of the mine collapsed. And within the center of this forgotten place, like a beacon to the end of his trials, was a familiar sight to behold.

There he was. The Warlock was dressed in dark robes with a familiar and all together intimidating helmet to top off the look. The stag skull’s eyes were the brightest flames in the dark room, the orange Hive lights barely enough to illuminate the shadows away. A brown bag sat at his feet, the same one from earlier in the day Draknus had reached for. Soxkt had seated himself patiently on the edge of the raised altar in the center of the room. He seemed to match the dusty shrine’s broken and kraggled appearance, even if he remained the cleanest thing in the room and the way he kicked his legs off the edge of the altar was more adorable than foreboding.

Draknus summoned his Ghost above his palm. “Ready?” He whispered. His Ghost nodded warily. It was almost time to grind his heel on this whole charade.

Moments passed...

“So, sweetheart, tell me; you feel safe?” Draknus made himself comfortable in the final circular tunnel entrance a healthy amount of time later, legs propped up as he reclined. His view from up here was perfect; out of Soxkt’s direct eye and with invisibility active, he was gifted a perfect view of the Warlock sat upon the altar still. As his words registered through the comms, he watched Soxkt stiffen, back straightening. He glanced around but it was more leisurely than alert, confident in his secure spot. He raised a hand to his helmet after a pause.

“You’re trying to intimidate me again now? Hm. Either you’re stuck or insufferably cocky.” It was funny hearing his voice come through twice. His soft voice bounced like a marble around the walls of the room, climbing up to his ears in a small delay from the voice that directly came through. Soxkt pushed himself from the altar and began to pace around the raised platform of the shrine. 

“Nah, I’ll be honest; I’m not anywhere close at this point.” Draknus slid the knife from his holster and began to toss it one handed. “You’re not answering my question though. That’s funny. Should I speculate on how you feel now? You’ve been doing that a lot to me today.”

He could see Soxkt’s gears turning as he walked, hand stroking his helmet’s chin. “I think I’ve done my job very well.” He finally gave as a non answer. 

“Nice choice. You’re dodging the question now instead of not answering. Clever.”

Soxkt huffed. “What do you want me to say then?”

Draknus caught the tip of the blade between his fingers and balanced precariously . “How about I tell you how I feel, instead of us back and forthing forever?” He cleared his throat carefully, keeping it short. “I for one am very excited to get to you. It’s going to be fun to figure out what you’ve been sitting around scheming since yesterday. Well, I already figured that part out. But I still want to see the end result.”

Like the sound of a pin pulled from a grenade, Soxkt froze in his pacing so hard, the stone crunched underneath his boots. He didn’t move for a good minute before walking quickly back to the altar, voice taking on a deeply different tone. No longer detached and condescending but raw with so much more. “I-I am not scheming, asshole. I’m...trying to help you here.”

“That all it is? Trying to help me, huh?” Draknus craned his neck. Soxkt was sitting back down again, leaned back, fingers tapping on the cold carved stone. He was eager. “Well then. It’s a shame. You see, I’m doing this more than just for ‘practice’. I’m actually having fun tracking you down, thinking about what I could do if I got my hands on you. When I get my hands on you. It’s been a fantastic motivator.” 

Draknus had planned this little speech out while laying down his traps but as he spoke, he realized how true it had become. Once he had realized what this game was, what Soxkt was playfully baiting him into, he wanted it too. That’s why he gathered all these mines. It’s why he was practicing his voyeur skills from up on high. He felt a flush rising up through his neck and like a dam bursting, Draknus suddenly was consumed with how badly he didn’t want to bother with this part of the hunt anymore. Seeing Soxkt react to his words only heightened the feeling and brought it to the front of his mind. He wanted to be down there with him, on him, in him, playing his part. But he knew he had to wait. If Soxkt had been patient, he would be too. 

Speaking of which, his lover was rubbing a hand slowly across his chest. Even from his position, he could see how fast it rose and fell under his palm. Draknus swallowed hard. He had been salivating. He twisted himself slightly to get a better view, pressing harder into his comm as though it would ease the gap between them. 

“That’s what you wanted, right? To get my blood pumping, all motivated and angry? You should be lucky I’m so relaxed actually; if I was as angry as you have desperately tried to get me…” Soxkt arched further back, slipping a hand under his robes, dragging down his torso as he touched himself good and slow. Draknus was almost hanging by his ankles out of his hiding spot as he scrambled to watch.

“Do you want to guess what I would do to you?” He asked, pretending his husky voice was from an attempt to sound dangerous and not the reality of continuing to hide his position. 

When Soxkt spoke next, it was more a breath then actual words, a hand tearing away the curtain of where his mind had drifted off too. “What would you do to me, Hunter?”

Draknus knew every word he could say to make Soxkt squirm. He had familiar words he’d learned to say to make his lover come undone. He had sudden new dangerous words that begged to be unleashed. But the fact of the matter was simple; words could only do so much. And words were empty promises if they couldn’t be properly backed up. It was maybe the hardest thing he’d ever done but Draknus took a calming breath and smiled slow and wide. He bit down on every unsaid word and kicked his legs over the edge of the tunnel opening. 

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

And with a single perfectly aimed shot of the last bullet in his gun, the first mine popped with an echoing boom and the cavernous space sprung to life.

The Hunter had used his time wisely. As Soxkt had sat like a fish in a barrel, Draknus had carefully, silently climbed to each tunnel entrance and secured a pulse mine within the mouth of each except his own. It had been a pain and taken more math than he liked to admit but the result had to be certain. Each mine had to be close enough to trigger another mine. Each mine had to be positioned to detonate with enough force to close each mouth. And, finally, for flavor, he didn’t want them to pop too neatly. He would need the chaos they sowed to lock his jaws around his prey.

Draknus dropped fast down the side of the wall, free to move as wildly as he needed to skid on both feet to the shaky ground without risking being seen. Most of the collapse was centered away from him but he knew it wouldn’t be long until the reverberations caused everything to tremble. Soxkt was still whipping around, watching his escape routes collapse in one by one. It was tempting to launch himself across the room at him during his moment of confusion but not yet; Soxkt was too smart. Something like this couldn’t possibly close the door on every plan he had up his sleeve. He wanted to make sure when he stopped him, it was for good.

Soxkt unstuck himself from his stupor and Draknus swore he heard a loud curse over the dull thundering explosions as the familiar dark shell of Ventriloquist popped over Soxkt’s hand. Side stepping a chunk of rubble that tumbled from the ceiling with a merely annoyed air, Soxkt’s skull faced helmet reflected a blue display that he furiously looked over. The longer he looked, the more red the crossing lines of the display became. His hand shut decisively, the Ghost dissipating along with the display, and he grabbed the bag at his feet. As he began to sprint, Draknus followed where he was heading with his eyes, pushing himself back against the dark shadowed wall. Soxkt was booking it directly towards a wall with a large spidering crack in it, missing several chunks, big enough gaps in it to have a mine wedged within it…

Draknus burst from his corner of the room, gaining momentum as he kicked off the wall and deftly sprinted up the steps leading to the altar, dodging the Hive architecture still in one piece, twisting his foot as he launched himself off the edge of the altar and directly into Soxkt’s side. 

The two tumbled to the ground, the bag flinging across the room away from them both as Soxkt’s grip was forced to release on it. Draknus did not get to enjoy his time on top for long as the clumsy hold gave way as Soxkt kneed him directly in the ribs, working to kick him off. Draknus felt the air booted from his chest but he held tightly to the fabric of the Warlock’s robes anyways, dragging Soxkt across the ground with him. The two wrestled furiously for ground, hardly able to hear their own hazardous breathing in the destruction around them. Neither wasted time on useless hits; their armor was too strong to bother with striking one another. It was only the animalistic effort to break free and the much more careful movements to secure oneself at the top of the food chain.

Soxkt suddenly stopped abruptly in his squirming and wrapped himself tight across Draknus in a vice cling, rolling them both across the floor. Seconds later, a weighty hunk of ceiling column shattered against the floor, sending stone hunks as big as their fists across the room. Time to be grateful was limited and the two resumed their close quarters squabble. Draknus wormed his thighs over Soxkt’s hips, locking them in place, knees digging hard into the floor. As Soxkt tried to buck him off, he felt something he was certain he wasn’t meant to feel between the Warlock’s legs, pressing up against his pelvis.

Soxkt’s fist collided abominably hard with the helmet, a harsh distraction from where his mind had wandered to, and Draknus felt the slamming impact, his teeth ripping across his lip and splitting it from the force. But it would be Soxkt’s final and only taste of victory. Draknus grabbed the wrist of the hand that swung at him, using the momentum to slam it to the floor. With a move that was baked into his muscle memory, Draknus slung a pair of arc cuffs from his waist and snapped the first to Soxkt’s wrist. The magnetic draw of the energy snapped the left hand to the right and in a matter of barely seconds, the Warlock was bound and out of the fight. The energy of the cuffs jolted through the Guardian, making his back arch as he yelled, wincing through the initial zap of pain. A green bulb turned on along the side of the cuffs. It was not enough though. Soxkt was fully locked in the jaws of manic adrenaline and bound wrists did not stop him from trying to kick his way free.

Draknus felt the blood run hot down his chin from his split lip and he might’ve felt it split more if he didn’t stop Soxkt from trying to sit up and ram his skull directly into his. Draknus shoved his chest flat to the floor and, with a hand he struggled to steady, drew his short knife and pressed it to Soxkt’s throat, finally slicing off the mania from the source. Soxkt froze in time with the chamber finally beginning to come to peace as the last few rocks tumbled around them. 

Silence hung heavy and thick. With a victorious surge of well won anger, Draknus claimed his prize, starting with demasking his captured “thief”. 

The helmet made a sickening set of cracking sounds of bone on stone as it bounced across the room, the antlered front chipping as it slammed into the wall from the force. The menacing front was shucked off and all that was left was Soxkt, bare faced, wide eyed, and flushed to the ends of his ears. He was beautiful. He was bruised. He was terrified. 

Fear danced across his face, potent and shock bright in Soxkt’s eyes. It had only been hours since he’d last seen his lover’s face but the whiplash of the man he carried around in his thoughts and the terrified man beneath him almost made Draknus falter. Almost. But Crota’s End had seen fear before in a lot of faces including his own and none had ever looked quite like this. None had ever made him so strangely warm under the collar. As he flicked his eyes over Soxkt’s face, though, it hit him; his lover’s eyes. 

They were some of the brightest he’d ever seen them be. His stomach erupted in butterflies. Mixed with all the fear, Soxkt was excited. 

The hunt wasn’t over. It had only just begun.


	7. The Hunt, The Feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hunt is more than the capture. It's everything that follows; the binding, the undressing, the breaking, the consuming...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes congrats you made it to the porn  
> TW for knifeplay, fear kink, rough sex, choking, threats, etc etc. Consent is pretty explicit and obvious but you know how it goes

As they both panted, Draknus hunched over Soxkt, reaching out one handed to check the wrist restraints. An old gift of Petra’s from when he hunted for her and the Prison of Elders. Well, okay, perhaps not a gift. He did just sort of take a few and not give them back. But how lucky he was to have them collecting dust on his ship. With a good shake and a positive test that the metal was not so old as to crack under stress and the arc energy not going to fire off at random, he returned his attention to the body beneath and the wide, unblinking stare waiting for him.

“Hi.” Draknus breathed out gently and then smiled wide, knowing Soxkt would be clinging to the sound of his grin that painted every word. “You like my knife, Warlock?” Soxkt shuddered beneath him at the tossed in term, cementing the game they were playing now. Spoken to so impartially harkened back to a time years ago where a heroic Hunter and a damaged Warlock danced with death upon the Reef in pursuit of a greater threat. Gods, they were stupid back then. And probably still stupid now if the destruction around them was any indication.

“Sure. Like it just fine. Know where you can stick it?” Soxkt snarled though the sound strangled itself in his throat as Draknus dragged the knife up his neck, the blade’s atom sharp edge angled along the curve of his Adam’s apple. Draknus watched him forced to tighten his breathing, heard the labored slow breath through his teeth. The Hunter chuckled lightly. 

“I think the potential of sticking things in places with you is limitless for me.” Soxkt, even through the fear making his pulse jump in his neck, rolled his eyes at the lame double entendre. Draknus shrugged guiltily. Can’t help himself sometimes. 

“You got your prize and handedly. Take it and go, Hunter.” Soxkt said slowly, crunching over the class title bitterly, careful to not speak too harsh should the blade’s edge make a home.

“Maybe not.” Draknus turned his head to a destroyed concussive mine that lay on the floor not far from them, waiting for Soxkt’s gaze to follow before continuing. “You made things very, very difficult for me you know. Even before I found you.”

Soxkt grinned a smile that stopped at his eyes. He made a good, scary dog when he wanted to show teeth. “You’re welcome.

“Aw, come on now! It's way too early to say that!” Draknus said with exasperation, shaking his head. He shifted himself up, pulling his weight off Soxkt slowly. “I should be thanking you in kind first before you give me that attitude.”

As soon as the blade is pulled away from the edge of his skin and Draknus lifted himself to his knees, Soxkt’s hips wormed out of the straddle trapping him. With his legs free, Soxkt kicked a furious foot directly at Draknus’s head much to his delight. The Hunter could kiss him for the fight he was putting him through but he did the second best thing instead and dodged, gripping the ankle in his hand as it kicked by and yanking with wicked fast reflexes. The voidlock was dragged closer and he snarled in frustration at his missed chance to get a good hit in. Soxkt dug his other heel into Draknus’s hip, but he didn't press his luck too far; the captivity of his other leg had him wary.

Especially for all that was to now be revealed. 

The robes of the Warlock part as Soxkt’s leg is held high against Draknus’s shoulder and the spread the Hunter has twisted his Warlock into reveals what he was hoping to see, the truth he had been searching for. An unsurprising answer but exciting nonetheless, full of potential. Draknus is grateful for his helmet and how it hides the deep red flush that encompasses his face. Soxkt is not so lucky as he freezes in his squirming, trying to sink himself further into the dirt as shame lodges a hand around his throat and paints his face red. Draknus let the moment sit, letting Soxkt marinate in his own pent up emotions for a moment as he made his long staring obvious.

“Well well, Warlock. What do we have here?” With a bit of shifting, Draknus scooted forward and pressed his knee in between the middle of Soxkt’s legs, grinding down carefully into the noticeable strain through his pants. The action shocked Soxkt back to life and the chaotic burst of energy their game thrived on reignited.

“Let me GO you son of a bi- AH!!” The sentence ended in a loud yelp and then a drawn out rush of air as Draknus pressed more of his weight down, careful to walk that line of pressure in such a delicate spot. Giving pleasure and promising pain; wasn’t that this whole charade in a nutshell?

“Man, this is a much better prize than those Golden Age books. Lucky, lucky me.” Draknus moved his knee back and slid his knife into his holster. “I wonder what could have caused this, Warlock...were you daydreaming a bit too much before I found you? Is your secret Hive lover hiding somewhere around here, eh? Or maaaaaaybe…”

The helmet transmatted away in a shimmer of air. The cold chamber was a refreshing feeling on his burning face. He was surprised he hadn’t fogged up his HUD with how much his excitement had been spiking. Soxkt stared up at him, trying his best to keep defiance alive on his face, even as Draknus lowered himself further, hovering his face scant inches above Soxkt’s trembling mouth. He wanted Soxkt to see the look he wore as he whispered his next words. 

“Maybe, just maybe, you just really couldn’t help enjoying the idea of me hunting you down like an animal.”

Soxkt made a gentle sound in the back of his throat. His eyes were drawn to the cut along Draknus’s lip and the blood that ran down under his jaw. The Hunter casually drew his thumb across the scrape to clear the still beading drops away, examining the pad of his finger as he did.

“You’re a pain in my ass and you have the guts to enjoy yourself like some kind of pervert. Kinda ticks me off. I’m not usually one for an eye for an eye but...I think it’s only fair you suffer a little too. Don’t you?”

Soxkt bit his lip, a weak attempt to hide the challenging smile beneath. “Wh...what are you going to do then?”

“Oh, you should really know better than to think I’d tell you.” Draknus lunged forward and gripped the arc energy between the cuffs in his fist and the energy coalesced around his grip like a chain. “Where’s the fun in that?” As he rose to his feet, the chain pulled with him and Soxkt was forced to follow in stumbling steps as Draknus headed right up the shrine steps and to the altar that sat in it’s center.

Despite how Soxkt dug his feet into the floor and wordlessly protested, he was up in the center of the raised platform eventually. Draknus felt bad at the small kick he got out of watching the Hero of the Tower fail to keep his balance when the short chain was yanked. Once atop the shrine, it didn’t take long to bend the arc chain where he needed it to be. The Hive were...gruesome, to put it simply. And Draknus had banked on there being many a steel loop to thread bindings to. He resisted the urge to merrily whistle as he threaded a chain through a hole. His hunch was right on the money.

The Hunter admired his work, purposefully avoiding the growling face trying to catch his eye, pretending not to hear the strain of chains from his struggling. Hero of the Red War, caught, denied his stolen prize, and now forced to stand with closely bound wrists pulled up above his head, arc chains carefully pulsing a dim light as they stretched between the broken spires. Draknus already knew a dozen ways Soxkt could find his way out, feet alone, but it seemed like the defiant fight within his Warlock was fading more and more to a larger emotion; curiosity. Despite the firm lines giving him an enraged countenance, he could tell by the stillness of how he stood he was accepting his lot as of now. It felt...satisfying to break his will just a little. 

Draknus took his time taking wide strides out to examine Soxkt fully from where he was locked in place, only now letting the two lock eyes. “Now. Are you going to let me have my way with you, my fellow Guardian, or are you going to be...difficult?” He bent over at the waist, eyes narrowing and hand stroking chin as though discerning the value of a piece of art. “You certainly look like a difficult man.”

Soxkt laughed coarsely. “You think I’m scared of you?” He spat blood on the floor. He had been saving it up under his tongue just for this moment. “Earn my fear, Hunter. I’ve lived without my Light before; you think you’re more than that, you cowardly rat? Dregs have given me more pause than you.”

Draknus watched with detached interest as Soxkt glared back with hot blooded fury. “I see. You are a glutton for punishment, Warlock. The Vanguard know you have such a rude tongue?”

That rude tongue stuck out at Draknus, scar and all, before hiding back in Soxkt’s mouth. “Get bent.”

“That scar you got tells me you know the kind of trouble your mouth can get you into. You don’t learn your lessons though, do you?”

Score. Soxkt blanched, the comment narrowly almost hitting too close to home, a finger trying to open the hatch of his mind. The whizzing of a bullet right past the glass of his heart. It was the fun that came with having such intimate knowledge of your playthings. Draknus smirked.

“I’m not one for wasting time on lost causes but...Warlocks are great students, aren’t they? I’m sure you just need a...harsher lesson.”

Challenge was challenge, after all. And if Soxkt was so eager to have the Hunter prove himself and his right to be here….

Right. Of course. Where were his manners? Soxkt must be waiting patiently for the dramatic reveal.

Draknus drew the Better Devils from his holster slowly. Soxkt ogled at the hand cannon and swallowed hard. He tried to jerk himself free again with the burst of adrenaline the gun’s reveal gave him but there was no give to the restraints. Draknus could see the quietly pleased look in the Warlock’s eyes when he wasn’t snapped free, even if he tried to mask it well. He watched his chest rise and fall rapidly as he moved closer, walking slow. Excitement, and so obvious too. How cute.

Draknus motioned with the hand cannon as he talked, lazily circling around Soxkt. “Now, my Warlock friend. I bet you’ve heard about all the legendary golden gunners we got over in the Hunter camp. The Golden Gun symbolizes us more than anything. Our burning Light, righteous justice, seering revenge...I mean just think of who we got. Ana Bray. Cayde-6. Shin Malphur. Erianna-3. It’s a pretty long list! I certainly don’t belong on it though. Not by a long shot. Just never got quite used to it like they do, especially with other Guardians.” 

Draknus stopped himself back in front of Soxkt, smiled, shrugged, and threw his hand over his shoulder. “Oh well.”

Soxkt blinked in surprised confusion as the gun smacked into the ground behind the Hunter, clattering against the stone as it merrily skidded away. They both turned to watch it bounce down the steps, Draknus keeping an easy smile on his face as he looked over his shoulder.

“Yup. It’s a shame for me, really. I’ll never be on that list with all the greats.” Draknus turned his head back and his eyes narrowed with dangerous intent, the same easy smile on his face. “But it’s a shame for you then that I have a different preference with far more skill riding on it.” His hand snapped down and he drew quick.

The sound of his blade sliding out of his thigh holster with a clean, sharp sound was music to his ears and the air around him spun to life. The nostalgic crackle and hum of arc energy coalesced around the blade, dripping like water down the handle and dissolving into his hand as he channeled his Light. Soxkt startled sharply and Draknus relished in the look on the Warlock’s face. Soxkt was finally shocked enough to drop the coy act, the defiant glare, and this time just regard him with open honest hunger that was noticeable even behind the terror.

“O-Oh fuck.” Soxkt stuttered.

“Ah, good, that’s more like it.”

Draknus stepped up and slowly drew the long blade barely an inch from Soxkt’s collar, letting it pointedly pause before dragging downwards and ghosting over his robes, knowing Soxkt could feel the arc energy even through the thick layers. Draknus was generating his Light strong as he might, letting it course through him without restraint or caution. His precision with this energy was undeniable, even to his own doubtful mind, and he grasped the power in him with total confidence. There was no reason to hold back.

He let the blade fizzle a bit too strongly as it trailed further down the Warlock’s abdomen. Soxkt’s stomach jumped to flinch away from the sparks and he looked at Draknus with panicked bewilderment. If anything sparked wrong or pressed against the Warlock’s torso too hard or singed a single red hair…

It would have to be done on purpose. They both knew it. Draknus’s grin broadened. Soxkt’s breath wavered in his throat.

“Are you scared now?”

Soxkt was warring between letting his gaze remain fixated on Draknus’s glowing amber eyes and following the blade’s descent. He could track it’s placement through the tingling of energy that barely flicked at him but it didn’t elevate the uncertainty of what was to come next much at all. He opened his mouth for an answer until he felt the arc’s dangerous kiss along his navel and he clenched his jaw. “Ghhh, Draknus, holy shit-”

“That’s not a very clear answer. But it’s okay. I can check myself.” The Hunter condescendingly patted Soxkt’s cheek with his free hand before gripping the fabric around Soxkt’s waist and pulling tight. 

The knife ripped through the belt and armored greaves’ front with a violent tear as electricity created a searing blade’s edge. The fabric hissed as it melted and burned away and the rip was startling loud in the cavernous room. Soxkt’s cry of “F-Fuck!” resounded around them along with it. The Warlock tried to jerk his hips back, rightfully fearing the bite of a shock or a knife’s edge, but Draknus found that Soxkt remained perfectly still with a hand wrapped around his neck.

They stared at each other for a single tense moment. Draknus’s smile was finally gone.

“If you start getting squirmy, Warlock...I can’t guarantee you won’t have to walk away from this with a couple scars to remember me by.” Draknus warned, pressing into the hard line of his jaw with his fingers.

Soxkt’s pulse raced beneath his hand and gods, he needed more of it. Draknus transmatted just the one gauntlet away to feel Soxkt’s throat under his fingertips. Even just the tiniest touch of flesh to flesh was dizzying. He could feel Soxkt’s skin hot like a fever despite the cold of the underground, feel the way the muscle shuddered with each unsure inhale. He didn’t want to limit his breathing with his grasp. Not yet. Not when it was so gratifying to feel it shake uninhibited.

“Or maybe I should say...I can’t guarantee you’ll walk out of here at all.” Draknus paired the implicit threat with a wink. The pink tip of Soxkt’s tongue barely peeked out as it ran between his lips. A reward. A silent approval. Keep going.

The Hunter eased up on the Light running through him, letting it slow and taper off until it was barely a blue hum inside of him, a gentle current under his skin. It was only then he let the blunt edge of the knife press against the now much more exposed hardness between Soxkt’s legs. 

Oh, Draknus ached to throw this charade away to grope animalistically at the bulge his blade had the pleasure to graze. Soxkt wasn’t just kind of turned on by this; he was rock hard, just as hot as the skin on his neck all over even with an additional layer dividing them. He could feel Soxkt’s cock straining against his briefs, jumping at the barely staticky touch of the steel against him. Draknus let the smooth edge guide itself around the Warlock’s outline, almost worshipping in how it sought out every bit of him. He let it follow down the entire length and drag back up again, slower with every pass. 

Draknus found the second advantage of his free hand’s placement was it kept Soxkt’s eyes on him. Should the Warlock’s gaze try to follow the knife’s trajectory, a small squeeze usually snapped his head straight again. And he was beautiful to look at. Soxkt’s panting pitched higher at every touch, eyes squeezing shut tight and mouth popped open in the most inviting way. The glint of the dying Hive light from the surrounding pockets in the walls were enough to cast light on his most gentle features. Draknus let his grip tighten until Soxkt’s eyes blinked back open to wince in painful, breathless protest.

“Tell me what you want. Look me in the eye and say it.”

The answer was fast and honest, as honest as the hardness between his legs, briefly too entangled in his pleasure to feign resistance. “Y-you. Use me. P-please.”

Draknus held himself back, taut like a bow, bracing against his own mental fortitude. “Even if it hurts you, Warlock?” A tighter squeeze and Soxkt choked gently. “Kills you?”

“Yes” is all the permission Draknus needed to move the hand from Soxkt’s neck to behind his head, pulling them both to meet mouth to mouth in the center.

Soxkt tasted better when he was scared. Draknus moaned deep into the kiss, letting himself push into the relenting mouth, hungry for at least the small chance to finally indulge. The Warlock’s mouth was so soft and willing, letting his lips be urged wide apart without fight. Draknus could feel Soxkt’s jaw trembling as his tongue slowly claimed dominion inside him, though it was hard to tell if the tremble came from the blade’s proximity to his jawline or the kiss itself. The closeness of the arc blade between both their faces reverberated their mouths against each other with lighting, every quick breath tingling in their throats. Draknus let the knife’s tip just barely graze Soxkt’s cheekbone and his lover near bit down on his tongue in return. 

“Careful.” Draknus breathed, equal parts warning and command, the tip pressing in just a hair more and Soxkt whimpered like he wasn’t an immortal god child who had been down the knife’s edge of so much worse before. Draknus sucked on his bottom lip gently, teething at it, letting himself be as contradictory as he was in his daily life. He would let his mouth play peacemaker to the violence of the blade that he again let spark just enough to elicit a drawn out keen from his partner.

He hooked a single finger in the fabric of the Warlock’s collar, stretching the fabric down to gift himself the soft, smooth skin underneath. The harder he threatened the knife’s edge to Soxkt’s jaw, the more the Warlock stretched his neck, the more blue skin pulled taut before his jaws. Draknus dragged his lips gently, kissing soft enough to feel the pounding heartbeat under his mouth. He licked his lips before biting down slow. Soxkt groaned, feeling the teeth sink in with agonizing patience, the pain slowly mounting until Draknus’s canines almost could pierce through to the veins underneath and Soxkt gave way to panting.

“F-fuck that hurts, you stupid d-dog!”

“Mmm…” Draknus responded by sucking on the skin, teeth still latched on tight, silencing any more complaints under a second wave of slurred curses. When he pulled back finally, the swathe of skin was wet and already purpling from the bruise blooming beneath. “I think you like when it hurts.”

Draknus flicked the mark, eliciting a weak snarl from his Warlock. His fiery gaze lowered. Soxkt’s hardness was twitching and it pulled his attention to his own neglected need.  
He deserved something out of this.

“I hate to undo my hard work so soon but I’m a man of the moment.” Draknus said as he reached up, grabbing the arc chain above Soxkt and with a single pulse of Light and a twist, the chains gathered in his hand again, snapping free of the spires they had been lassoed to. Soxkt stumbled slightly and Draknus jumped at the chance, knocking his feet from under him. The Warlock grunted as he was dropped to his knees, immediately feeling his head smack into the altar behind him as a knee was rammed under his chin, pinning him in place.

He let Soxkt watch him transmat away his second gauntlet, dragging his hand slowly down the front of his chest just as he had seen him do earlier. However, he dragged it even further, taking his time to enjoy his own touch. There was no need to rush beyond the eager eyes watching pleasingly. When he dragged his palm down and slowly grabbed at himself over his greaves, Soxkt couldn’t resist the gasp he gave between his teeth. Draknus chuckled deep in his chest.

“What? Happy? How sweet of you, Warlock.” Soxkt tried to turn his gaze away in humiliation but the knee at his neck did not afford him much wiggle room. “Ah-ah. No hiding from the truth. You want me to use you no matter what, remember? Gonna hold you to that.” Draknus continued to grope himself as best he could. Even just the pressure of his palm grinding into him was making it hard not to start breathing heavy. He had to keep a stiff upper lip for appearances sake but damn it, there were too many layers in the way.

Draknus pulled his knee back and quickly undid just enough to free his cock, letting the arc chain fall and snap back into Soxkt’s wrist cuffs. He could feel Soxkt swallow and his throat bob against his kneecap. Lowering his leg, he cupped Soxkt’s jaw lovingly, pulling him flush to his navel, his cock pressed to the side of his face. Soxkt looked up at him with longing, nuzzling slightly against his thigh, bound wrists placed neatly on his lap.

“No biting. No fighting. Play nice or I’ll keep to my promise of where the business end of my knife will end up.” Soxkt nodded shortly, mouth open and waiting, but Draknus liked slowly drawing his cock across his cheek, teasing the edges of his lips. Even with the illusion of being forced to do this, he could feel Soxkt’s breath along his shaft and knew his enthusiasm was real. He let himself drag slowly across his skin, waiting for the moment Soxkt’s patience broke. When the Warlock’s mouth twitched, reaching for a taste of him, only then did he redirect himself and push in.

Soxkt’s mouth was undisputed heaven to fuck just as it was to kiss. Draknus felt the weakness in his knees from the sudden inviting wetness jut him forward briefly as he moaned, sinking a sudden extra inch into the back of Soxkt’s mouth. It took sincere effort to not just fall forward entirely. It was sweet relief to his aching cock the attention placed upon it. Soxkt had quickly started to bob his head, allowing each inch to be savored before sinking his mouth lower again.

It was easy on the surface to pretend hesitance but within his mouth, Soxkt’s tongue lavished the underside of Draknus’s cock adoringly and it was much harder to keep quiet with his throat kept open for him to thrust into. Even when he gagged, Soxkt kept himself the perfect receptacle to be used at will, groaning with obvious pleasure. Draknus pushed a hand through Soxkt’s hair, forcing up his golden gaze when it wrapped hard around the strands. The Warlock noticeably shuddered at the mean, all knowing smirk given to him. Still, even his own embarrassment didn’t stop him from stretching to push more of the cock down his throat. 

“Eager to please with your life on the line?” Draknus held tight to his red hair, guiding Soxkt’s eagerness, controlling the pace much to his companion’s disgruntled pleasure. “Or maybe you’re just that needy.” Soxkt made his answer obvious as he pushed against the hand attempting to slow him, inching the rest of the Hunter’s cock down his throat, nose pressed against the armored front. Draknus gasped roughly, hands wrapping behind the Warlock’s head to keep him in place. His thrusts became short and fast, like an animal in heat, rutting desperately within the tight wet confines of his mouth. 

Soxkt didn’t pull his gaze away, continuing to keep eye contact, eyes heavy lidded. His gaze only broke when Draknus thrust too hard, stretched his mouth too wide, and the Hunter craved for those little moments of breaking. Soxkt was equal parts a scheming brat who baited him into this and just as innocent as their first kiss. Both parts were good to see lose themselves to need, to masochistic pain. Combined with how tight Soxkt’s throat, how wet, the drool running down his chin and slicking the front of his greaves, how sweet he sounded when he pulled on his hair and forced tears to blink into the corners of his eyes...

“Fuck this.” Draknus snarled to nothing in particular as he wrenched Soxkt back by the hair, his cock pulling out of his throat with a gargled gasp. The Warlock’s face flashed with panic and pain, not understanding the shape of Draknus’s frustration, fearing a failure on his part. That glimpse of innocent fear stepped on the pedal of Draknus’s desire until he thought he might spin out. It was an almost clinical takedown to bring Soxkt stomach flat onto the shrine floor, watching his elbows skid into the stone as he writhed, still panicked, still unsure. He only stopped when he felt Draknus reach beneath him, pulling the ruined cloth at his hips down and away, adjusting Soxkt’s cock beneath him between his thighs. Draknus listened to him whine at the contact of the cold stone but Soxkt quieted fast at the pressure of Draknus sitting himself against his thighs, an iron grip digging into his hips. 

“Traveler’s might, Warlock. I swear, I’m going to fuck you through this floor.”

It was beyond tempting to just slide his cock in right now using nothing but Soxkt’s own spit to aid him inside. Especially with the view of his ass before Draknus now and the surging rush of knowing his boyfriend would just let him if he did regardless of what hurt it might cause. Draknus felt his jaw twitch and he wanted to sink his teeth into the bare flesh before him. He wanted to see how good his teeth marks would look on him. He wanted to feel the drag of Soxkt struggling to take him in, wanted to hear him fall over himself in pleasure and pain, he wanted to ruin him for anyone else who tried to take him-

Draknus slapped himself. 

It took a couple deep breaths but eventually, he was calmer and remembered he wasn’t a god damn warbeast. This was the love of his life and as much fun as it was to fantasize about intense things, they still had normal fleshy bodies that needed care, Ghosts or not. He cleared his throat shortly once certain he was no longer about to just tip over the edge into a point of no return. He wasn’t sure how to do this without ruining the mood entirely but he didn’t see a way to properly progress otherwise. Here went nothing. 

“I, uh, ok….should we take this back to your place to finish up or…?”

Soxkt flinched immediately and curled onto his side to look over his shoulder at Draknus, worry lines creasing his forehead. “I’m sorry, is it too much? We can stop here.” Draknus let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Hearing his boyfriend talk to him so casually and so quickly after everything tonight was strangely relieving. 

Draknus waved his hands nervously, shaking his head. “Ah no! No no no! It’s...I’m kind of embarrassed to say it’s not too much all things considered but it’s true.” He chuckled awkwardly as though he didn’t just promise to fuck his boyfriend directly through solid stone. “Look, I don’t want to stop, REALLY don’t, but I didn’t know if you were...you know...good to go in this direction in regards to...things. Are you?”

Understanding blinked into Soxkt’s eyes and he cut in quickly. “I...I am!” He gulped and glanced away, rolling back to his front shyly. “Really. I...I made sure.”

Draknus stared openly for a moment as though he wasn’t even fully sure what he had been searching for with his question but the answer hit him square between the eyes. “Oh. Oh! Ok, you...heh, you are huh? Prepared for this just in case?” Draknus smirked but he wasn’t expecting just how eager the nod he got back. His smirk fell, curiosity winning out.“...How prepared?”

There was a steady beat of quiet. “The...the bag.”

“What?”

“The bag, just...the bag. Go. Open it.” Soxkt pointedly refused to raise his face from the floor now. Draknus could see where the tips of his ears were turning red.

Curiously, he stood up and walked across the room to the still clasped bag Soxkt had been running with that laid on the floor. He flicked open the clasps and peered inside, squinting in the dim light- rolls of maps, two tomes he knew came from the clan hall, three extra concussive mines packed tight, and….

“Are you serious right now, Socks?” Draknus was almost giddy, barely stifling the laughter in his chest as he dropped the bag and whapped the bottle of lube against his palm. Soxkt groaned low in response and Draknus swaggered back over, reseating himself against Soxkt’s hips with an insufferable look Soxkt could hear on his voice. “I mean, I knew you had something up your sleeve from the get go with this ‘hunt’ thing but...by the Light, you were PREPARED for this? This much prepared!?”

Soxkt twisted to throw a frustrated red faced look over his shoulder. “And you’re lucky I was, jackass!”

Well, this game they were playing couldn’t let snark like that slide. Draknus pushed his hand against Soxkt’s head and ground his cheek back into the stone, bringing himself low to hiss in his ear, whiplashing from his typical self to this new persona of someone much, much darker.

“No. You’re lucky you’re getting this at all.” The word was punctuated by a quick rutting of his hips, letting Soxkt feel the pent up desire he was packing now. “You’re lucky I don’t leave you down here panting and begging with a beacon tied to your ankle for some lucky blueberry to stumble upon.” Soxkt was stuttering something, maybe an apology, it didn’t matter at this point. Draknus bit at the sensitive skin of Soxkt’s ear, just a nip, hovering just barely over a whisper. “You’re lucky it was me who caught you, Warlock. At the very least...I don’t mind letting you walk out of this alive. Other Hunters wouldn’t be so kind with your attitude.”

As he pulled back up, he trailed a slow finger over the rock hard cock between Soxkt’s thighs, delighting in his shuddering before moving his attention to Soxkt’s ass waiting for him. Draknus squeezed at the flesh, letting his nails pierce into the pale blue softness as he groped. This was truly a cut of meat worth hunting for. 

Draknus was strangely grateful for the slower pace this moment offered. It was maybe comical to think of this as a moment of clarity but slowly pushing his lubed fingers into Soxkt cleared some of the feral fog in his mind. He moved his hand slow, stretching Soxkt like he had been learning over their nights together, taking his time with his fingers. He could see Soxkt’s eyes flutter shut, the way he nuzzled into his biceps as discomfort became pleasure and he knew he was doing things right. He pushed in up to the second knuckle and Soxkt murmured his name almost unconsciously like a love note. It’d been a long time since his voice was a surprise but it always remained a sweet gift. 

Damn this Warlock. He was everything worth loving in this universe. Not to mention easily the freakiest Guardian he had ever met. Draknus knew he couldn’t ask for a better partner, lover, best friend, tracked-down prey.

He leaned forward and quickly kissed Soxkt on the apple of his cheek where he could reach, right where the red marking under his eye sat. “Love you.” He whispered.

He saw Soxkt’s goofy smile bloom at the corner of his mouth. “I love you too.” He whispered back. The smile remained even when Draknus curled in deep to the third knuckle.

Soxkt was always tight but eventually it became easier to push back into the muscle and Soxkt began to press back against Draknus’s hand. Trapped beneath the straddle he couldn’t lift much but he did best he could to encourage the Hunter’s deft fingers to press deeper, harder. He even had the audacity to whine in frustration when Draknus began to pull his thrusting fingers free. He yelped as Draknus smacked his bare ass in response. 

“Be careful what you wish for with noises like that.”

He didn’t leave him wanting for long. Draknus drew his crooked fingers out slow and immediately in their place, he angled down the head of his cock and pushed into the warm wetness waiting for him. The swollen head, still glistening wet with saliva, struggled to squeeze into the tight hole but his lover was willing and eager and eventually it popped inside. Draknus swore between his teeth, knees trembling as he braced himself to sink in slowly. 

Soxkt groaned loudly, attempting to buck his hips up but Draknus ground his hand between his shoulder blades, forcing him flat again. He wanted to take his time. Even with the strain it put on his exhausted body, he forced himself to go painfully slow. He wanted to enjoy the conquest. He wanted to let it sink in and fully submerge that he was now taking what rightfully belonged to him by force.

Eventually, he had sunk into the hilt and Soxkt was beginning to lose himself, stuttering vague half words of praise and begging. He could feel how much he had stretched to accommodate him. Draknus rested himself on Soxkt’s back, chin against his shoulder, matching the breathing beneath him. He moved his hips, pushing himself in deeper and deeper, until Soxkt couldn’t take any more of his length. Only then did he allow himself to leisurely draw in and out again, moaning low at how tightly Soxkt clung to him. 

Soxkt sobbed out at the torturously slow pleasure. “D-Draknus, holy fuck, please, please-!“

“I didn’t know you wanted me like this.” Draknus’s voice was husky and low in between his labored breathing. He emphasized his point with a rough snap of his hips that made Soxkt swear loudly in a cracked bouncing voice, hands desperately trying to grasp onto something for leverage. Draknus wrapped his fingers around a bound wrist and squeezed hard enough to feel the veins under his fingertips, the arc energy tangling around his hand. Soxkt’s pulse was breakneck fast and Draknus couldn’t help but laugh roughly.

“You always pretend to be so innocent. I should’ve known better by now.”

Draknus hooked his fingers through Soxkt’s bright red hair as it came loose from the knots tied behind him. From this angle, he was able to slam himself in so much deeper. He could hardly contain how good it felt to ram every inch of his cock into Soxkt. With his hips trapped and the weight of the body flush against him, the poor Warlock had no choice but to take his merciless beating though it came to no surprise how willing he was. Draknus didn’t need to look to know that his cock was leaking precum and growing redder with each passing moment.

The slapping sound of skin on skin grew louder and both men joined in following it with their exclamations. If Draknus had a single rational thought in his head, he might feel embarrassed at hearing his own sounds thrown back at him from the echoing room. He was saved by Soxkt being twice as loud, an infinitely much nicer sound to hear than himself. Soxkt cried out with each thrust like he was being paid for it. For as much as the Hunter felt pent up, he reckoned it had to be much much worse for the Warlock. Draknus felt the pressure in his core tighten and knew if he was closing in, his lover would be close behind. 

Draknus didn’t even pull himself out from Soxkt as he jerked up his lover’s hips, pulling his navel off the floor and both of them to their knees. He heard Soxkt give a sigh of relief as his cock was allowed to dangle freely from between his legs. Draknus settled himself, giving an affection rub to Soxkt’s back as a silent check in, and made up for the seconds of lost time. His hand wrapped around Soxkt’s cock and began to pump as he resumed his brutal pace. 

Soxkt tried to squirm uselessly away, attempting to fight off the unstoppable assault on his most sensitive of spots to no avail. He tried to meet eyes with his lover over his shoulder, pupils blown wide, breathing shallow and hyper fast. Draknus tried a smile back at him but it was only a show of bared teeth. 

“W-Wait, wait, Draknus! I-I’m, oh f-fuck, oh fuck-!” Draknus could feel Soxkt’s cock twitch in his grasp and he sped up his wrist, groaning out murmured encouragement, matching Soxkt’s hips slamming back against him rapidly. 

Soxkt tensed hard as he came and Draknus gasped, pitching forward, white lights popping behind his eyes. Soxkt’s animalistic calls danced in the open room and Draknus’s heart slammed up in his throat. It was too much; the feeling, the sounds, the way Soxkt squeezed his eyes shut and his mouth pulled into a beastly growl as he surrendered completely to his body’s release. Draknus quickly thrust forward in short bursts, driving himself straight through Soxkt’s orgasm, turning the snarl beneath him into a series of pathetic whines. He pierced each slam with a hazy “fuck”, before burying himself into the hilt. His cock twitched with each pulse of pleasure that overcame him, cumming deep inside Soxkt. Draknus groaned, feeling a shake climb up his thighs until his hands dug deep into Soxkt’s hips were trembling like crazy. 

“Hoooooly shit, Soxkt.” Draknus panted. Maybe it was unfair to think, and maybe was certainly biased, but nothing had ever felt that good before. Somehow, in this dimly lit abandoned Hive shrine, with a split lip and aching muscles and most of his armor still on, he could not conceive of a better way to get his rocks off. He let himself stay buried deep inside his boyfriend, enjoying the snug warmth as his high slowly trickled down. Eventually, his mouth remembered how to form sentences again. 

“You, ah...y-you good?” He stuttered out, slowly breaking his grip on Soxkt’s cock. He could feel the strands of cum still dripping down his fingers and onto the stone beneath Soxkt’s lifted hips. 

Soxkt was quiet and still for long enough that Draknus frantically began to draft up an extensive apology in the still working parts of his brain when he saw Soxkt’s hand twitch. He squinted. He was being...given a thumbs up. A very weak one.

“Seriously, Socks? That’s it?”

Soxkt gave a soft “hhhhh” and Draknus smiled exhaustively. That’d do for now.

It felt too fragile to break this moment but eventually, Draknus remembered how much his knees were killing him and he inched himself out of Soxkt, watching with a thrill as he leaked down the tops of the Warlock’s thighs and dripped under the crumbled fabric of his armor. Draknus carefully maneuvered himself back into his pants, keeping a careful eye on his lover who remained still with his eyes closed, breathing shallow. A small bulb went off in Draknus’s head. There was one other thing he wanted to do before the mood fully exited the tunnels with them...

Soxkt squeaked out, kicking behind him in surprise as Draknus bit into the flesh of his ass with a playful growl that quickly dissolved into a peal of exhausted laughter once he saw the satisfying set of teeth marks indented into his skin and heard Soxkt’s weak chuckle following behind his.

“Alright….now it was worth it.”


	8. Civil Once Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short brief reprieve for the two boyfriends after their 'hunt'

Normalcy needed prep work before it could stroll back into the conversation. It needed a long quiet ship ride back through the system, stealthed to avoid any wandering eyes, letting cruise control take over so one hand could be free to hold another. It needed a hot shower in Soxkt’s apartment, water caressing bruises and scraped bodies, alerting their Ghosts to missed spots where Light was required. Draknus was tempted to ask his Ghost to let some of the ‘battle scars’ stay but the judgmental silence was enough to keep him quiet. Normalcy required stealing the sweatpants and soft hoodies from a boyfriend’s closet while he showered himself for triple the amount of time it normally took him. Draknus didn’t mind. If anything, it went to his ego to imagine how sore he must be. Just a little. 

When Soxkt eventually dragged his feet to the kitchen, hair still damp and tied behind his head, smelling like oranges and honey, he was greeted by the sharp smell of coffee and a mug of tea with an unknown amount of sugar in it. Draknus was curled up on the counter and ignored the look shot at him for having his feet propped up next to the sink. 

“I didn’t poison it, Socks.” Draknus deadpanned as Soxkt sniffed his tea suspiciously, feigning hurt. 

“What bag did you use?”

“The one labeled dish soap under the sink.”

The two snickered. Normalcy needed this too, maybe more than anything else. Draknus gave a weak smile as his cheek was kissed and watched Soxkt blearily move to the couch, grabbing a blanket and bundling up like a child into the corner. 

“...Are you going to hit me if I ask again if you’re doing okay?”

Soxkt didn’t answer at first, making a face at the mug he sipped from. “Too much sugar.”

Draknus scooted off the counter and slowly made his way over, eyeballing the empty space next to Soxkt. “I’m being a little serious. Clearly that was...highly enjoyable but doesn’t that type of thing get some wires crossed?”

Soxkt pulled his feet in closer to himself. “No, actually. I never thought for a moment you’d go too far. If anything, I was scared I’d ask too much and you’d be...disgusted with me.” He glanced meekly up at Draknus. “S-sit down. Please. You’re stressing me out.”

Draknus flopped onto the couch with a relieved sigh. “If that’s all then, I’m more than satisfied. Are you convinced I wasn’t disgusted by any of that then?”

“That part might...take a while to process.”

“If I wasn’t so drained, I’d prove to you right now how not gross you are. Kinky and devious and a total brat but...not gross or disgusting in the slightest.”

Soxkt was flared bright red, a familiar pout on his face. “Shut up…”

Draknus slurped loudly from his mug. “I gotta know. What else are you secretly hoping I accidentally open a door to? What other one of your fetishes can I innocently walk into?”

“Nghhh, stop it!” Soxkt pushed his face into the blanket, muffling his whining. Wrapped up in that pastel colored bundle of fluff, curled into a tiny ball, he had effectively erased the image away of the panting, bruised, lustful creature he was earlier. Draknus sipped his coffee loudly again. Well. Maybe not entirely. That image was gonna be in his bank for a long, long time. He jabbed Soxkt’s knee with a socked foot, jostling him.

“Come ooooooon, that can’t be the ONLY weird fantasy you have. I have to know what else I can do to drive you wild! Also, gotta know, were the mines required? Were you gonna be unable to finish without blowing up Hive tunnels? Is that it’s own fetish?”

Two golden eyes glared at him just slightly from above a soft mound. “Keep making fun of me and I’m going to hunt you next time.” Soxkt continued to let the blanket couch his words and Draknus chuckled.

“Tempting me with a good time already?” His foot slowly slid down Soxkt’s leg, smile turning gentle as he felt another wave of post adrenaline warmth wash over him. “You know. It did help me, actually. The stealthing and tracking and all that effort you put in. I haven’t had to try that hard in a good while. Whether that was your intention or not, it worked wonders.”

The blanket pulled away from Soxkt’s face, being thrown over and yanked tight around his shoulders. His face openly broadcasted the emotional struggle he was going through and when he spoke next, his voice was soft and eyes glanced low. “I may be a freak but I wasn’t lying about helping you or making it real practice. I...I did really want to help you. It was real.”

Draknus reached over with a huff to drop his mug on the coffee table and opened his arms expectantly. “Alright, come on. C’mere. Stop looking at me like that and let me cuddle you.” Soxkt wearily shuffled on his knees across the couch after setting his tea aside and collapsed against his boyfriend, who readily grappled him into a warm embrace, sandwiching Soxkt between his legs and keeping his arms wrapped around his neck. “You’re not a freak, Soxkt. Or, if you are, I got a thing for freaks, especially ones that look exactly like you and talk like you and….heh, are you. Because I like you. A lot.” 

Soxkt shifted his face against Draknus’s neck. “...Like?” He teased, lips pulling into a smile.

Draknus glanced down and saw beneath the loose collared shirt, a blooming bruise on the side of Soxkt’s neck, unhealed. He felt the blush creep up his face. Of all the dumb things worth being shy over today…. “Yes, like. And I love you too. Thought that part was obvious though.”

“It is.” The two rested in silence, both mentally resigning themselves to most likely falling asleep just like this. The bedroom wasn’t far but it would mean untangling from each other for a whole thirty seconds and that was impossible. Besides, it would be perhaps the most wholesome of ways to get caught should anyone storm into the house. Draknus gently trailed fingers down Soxkt’s back, listening to his soft breathing, enjoying the pressure of his body resting on top of him. The gentle rhythm of their chests falling in time could lull anyone into dozing off. 

Draknus almost thought he had when Soxkt spoke up again, voice heavy with sleep. “Next time though...”

Draknus grinned. “Next time already, huh?”

“Shh. Next time...I’ll be a little easier for you to catch.” Soxkt pecked his lips on Draknus’s shoulder.

Draknus planted a kiss against his forehead, lingering before pulling away, eyes shutting as his head rolled back onto the arm of the couch. “Oh, I hope not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I simp for Draknus so hard so don't be surprised if you see more of him


End file.
